For nearly a century, the National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA) has imposed federal registration and other burdens on Americans seeking to purchase suppressors and short-barreled firearms. This legislation required applicants to undergo fingerprinting, photography, and a $200 tax stamp for such weapons.
On August 13, 2026, U.S. District Court Judge James Wesley Hendrix of the Northern District of Texas issued a permanent injunction in Silencer Shop Foundation v. ATF, barring the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) from enforcing the challenged requirements against plaintiffs, their members, and customers of commercial plaintiffs.
The ruling followed a lawsuit brought by Gun Owners of America (GOA), Gun Owners Foundation, Silencer Shop, a coalition of manufacturers and individuals, and 15 states. The decision was based on changes enacted by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025, which eliminated the $200 NFA tax on suppressors, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, and “any other weapons.” Judge Hendrix rejected the government’s attempt to justify the NFA under the Constitution’s Commerce Clause.
Judge Hendrix wrote: “The challenged NFA provisions are unconstitutional. Congress’s choice to eliminate the transfer and making taxes matters, and the defendants cannot save the NFA’s regulatory scheme by referring to a power that Congress never invoked.”
Shortly after midnight on August 13, 2026, GOA members Brandon Herrera, candidate for Texas’ 23rd Congressional District, and Texas state Representative Wesley Virdell (R-Junction) completed the first suppressor transfers without NFA registration since the Act took effect in 1934. The transactions occurred at Silencer Shop’s storefront in Leander, Texas.
Erich Pratt, senior vice president of GOA, stated: “GOA fought to crush the NFA’s unconstitutional restrictions through the One Big Beautiful Bill, but we didn’t stop there. We promised to keep fighting until these restrictions were gone…. The era of federal registration for constitutionally protected arms must end.”
U.S. Representative Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.), who authored the OBBBA’s provision zeroing the NFA tax, was present during the transfers and declared: “Today marks a tremendous milestone … a restoration of our constitutional right to keep and bear arms that has been violated since 1934.”
The injunction currently applies only to the plaintiffs and their customers. A nationwide end to the NFA would require further legal action or congressional intervention.
Additionally, Attorney General Todd Blanche announced a new process allowing eligible Americans to seek restoration of their federal firearm rights under 18 U.S.C. § 925(c), reviving an available path for over three decades. Applicants must demonstrate they pose no danger to public safety and that restoration aligns with the public interest.
This legal victory marks the first time in 92 years that Americans have acquired suppressors without federal registration.